Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
I always play on hardest setting, at least with modern games

I think thats your problem.. I think The Witcher is much more fun, on medium setting, the combat is fun and it dont take to long, and yet you can still die, if you are not careful. On hard setting combat takt way to long, and it getting "old" relly fast.

As the open world vs "closed", I personal prefer a good story, after have played wow fore over 2½ years, im sick of anything thats to "open". Yes, a side quest here and there is fine, aslong it dont move to much attension away from the main quest. Further, just the thourgh of "grinding" makes me puke! So in my case, no more open world games and mmorpg's.

Dragon's Lair was significantly more challenging, though - as you had to memorize your movements and when to "click" or move the stick to one side. In TW - you just have to click every few seconds. Ooooh, that's hard

I still remember Dragon's Lair coming to the arcade … I was out of undergrad school and hanging with some friends and we went to the old arcade we loved to hit. And there was this game that was a quarter eating cutscene machine …

I just finished it. I am very impressed by the game. I especially enjoyed chapters 3 and 4, but the game was entertaining until the end. Characters were strong and some events were brilliant, but I feel that the main plot disappointed me a bit towards the last chapter and the epilogue. I don't want to spoil anything here, so I won't go into further detail.

I am very happy that I played this game in highest difficulty. There were only a handful of battles which challenged me. It's a pity, because the rules system is unique and fun. One thing I didn't like were the respawning enemies, especially in the swamps and the sewers. I read that some complained that the end was too combat heavy, but I disagree.

The sex…well, I think it was a nice touch. It is simply part of the Witcher's character that some women find him so attractive, and you can always decide *not* to sleep with them. I never said "no", however The cards are gimmcky, yes, but also very well done. They really make some encounters more intimate.

The graphics were pretty good. Some of the areas were beautiful. I really liked areas with rivers or lakes in them, these looked very idyllic. The music and sound were very good.

I played the Enhanced Version. Apart from two crashes, I had no problems with the program.

If you haven't played the Witcher yet, do yourself a favor and get it.

I've actually been playing it these days too, I'm in chapter 3 at the moment. I had tried the game before, but couldn't get into it because the skill system didn't appeal to me. There was no way to develop Geralt to my likings. I love to specialize — excel in one area and suck in others, yet The Witcher doesn't really let you do that. The fact that sword skills are divided into 6 different trees, for example, looks good for diversification in theory but as you kinda need them all, there is no real choice. And there's no ranged combat at all either.

However, this time I succumbed to the idea that Geralt is, indeed, a witcher, a battle mage of sorts and can or should be played as such: Skilled in all available areas such as swords fighting and magic, with attributes to back it up (strength, intelligence etc.). And alchemy of course — Geralt even said in the game at one point: "A Witcher without potions is half a Witcher."

This means that from a role-playing point of view, character customization is extremely lacking. However, since character development is actually experienced through the story, the aforementioned shortcomings don't matter too much. I often felt reminded of Gothic and Realms of Arkania / Drakensang in terms of setting and atmosphere, which I guess can be attributed to the European style.

Oh, and I'm playing the game in German, although I did try various language combinations first; I liked Polish, but I found that while I can easily follow the story in a movie like Avalon with subtitles, in an RPG I prefer being able to understand what's being said without having to read all the time. Which left English and German. This was a tie — some voices sounded better in English, like Geralt's voice, others sounded better in German, like Kalkstein *). In the end I decided to go all native in order to reduce the amount of concentration needed to process all the information (journal entries!) and create a relaxing gaming environment.

*) Kalkstein is interesting. In English his accent is such that he sounds like a mad German scientist. In German he sounds like Dracula with what seems to be an Eastern European accent (?). I wonder what accent he has in other languages, can anyone provide some information on that?

Ah, and in case it didn't shine through: I'm greatly enjoying the game! The more I play the more I'm sucked in.

— "Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where." ~ Cortez, from The Longest Journey

I agree about character skills and specialisation. There is specialisation, but to a very small degree. For example, I basically only sed one spell - Igni - which towards the end I had developed to its fullest. Igni can make a lot of battles very easy, though. I don't know how others experienced fully leveled spells.

I'm planning on maxing out Aard, to satisfy my "air mage" needs. From what I've read, Aard and Igni are the two best choices. But since I don't like fire, I'm not putting any points in Igni; my secondary magic tree of choice is Quen, because I like defensive magic, a preference that originated from those ant-like creatures in Raymond Feist's Empire Trilogy. Haven't found too many uses for Quen, yet, since the shield is defensive only and disappears as soon as you attack something or use another sign. While it's active you seem to be pretty much invulnerable, however, so you can do stuff with potions etc. during its duration.

— "Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where." ~ Cortez, from The Longest Journey

I have been playing through for the 3rd time now and decided to try out conversational options I passed on before. While most times it does not matter I have found a few surprizes and at least one completely different game play option.

Spoiler

At the bank robbery I decided to say I would go alone and it opened the warehouse entrance which is not an option otherwise in the game. Not a big change but new and gives more exp. with killing off stuff in there.

Many of the other options so far have just ended up in the same results, but it keeps me interested. And is good for a few laughs at times.

— Bart and Corwin should just admit that when it gets down to it, I will have the final say.

I have to admit that I'm one of the few people that just don't "get it". I just don't. It's a matter of taste, and to me, there are too many elements that I simply don't like, and can't ignore. I can ignore the sluggish gameplay in PS:T because the rest of the game is brilliant, comparable to a good book, but I feel no such thing in The Witcher.

The things I can't ignore:
- The combat system. PJ mentioned it as a "love" or "hate" system. I'm one of the people who can't stand it. It tries desperately to seem more complex than it really is, but ends up being annoying, as the complexity/challenge comes exclusively from the actual system, and not from the enemies.
- The game progress. Baldur's Gate 1, released over 10 years ago, managed to have a fairly open world despite a good story. Might & Magic managed the same even earlier. I see no reason at all why games should ever choose the simple solution and constantly shut down the areas you've already visited.
- The "class system". What class system? Sure, you can focus on slightly different areas, but all in all, you still have to be "jack of all trades", and combat always feels the same.
- The snide remarks. Not a huge fan of playing an ass. Don't get me wrong - I like having the option to do so, but most of the time I prefer saying what I'd actually say in those situations, and Mr. Witcher and me generally don't see eye to eye on most things.

All in all, it's mostly the lack of a good class system and the very linear/ristricted chapters that make it a mediocre experience for me. I can overlook the other issues for a good story.